Comfy cozy are we | squash soup with herb meatballs

Oh dear. I'm finally sharing that soup recipe I made, once upon a time.

A bowl of this is a wonderful thing to cradle in your hands after coming in from the cold. It's creamy without any cream (a trick that satisfies me a great deal) and a good balance of sweet (the soup) and savory (the meatballs).

A bit of honesty:

1. I'd meant to also top the soup with roasted squash seeds. While I did roast the seeds, none of them escaped my thieving fingers long enough for dinnertime.
2. I really dislike cutting whole squash in half. I find the process very cumbersome and awkward, but this soup (plus the roasting seeds it yields) makes it wholly worth it. However, I can't promise that I won't succumb to buying pre-cut squash in the future. 
3. I actually only made half of the meatball recipe below, but I don't recommend that. It will leave you looking sadly into your meatball-less soup.
4. My method of making meatballs involves adding as much chopped fresh herbs as I can and still be able to roll the mixture into balls. I really like the fresh taste of herbs.

Squash Soup with Herb Meatballs
(inspired by summer harms) 

1 kabocha squash
extra-virgin olive oil
4-5 cloves roasted garlic cloves
1 small onion, diced
3 vegetable bouillon cubes (no salt added)
6 cups water
2 pound ground chicken
2 eggs
6 tablespoons chopped parsley
grill seasoning, to taste

To prepare soup:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half. Scoop out stringy flesh and seeds. Lightly rub remaining flesh with olive oil. Roast squash, cut side up, for 1 hour. When cooked, set aside to cool.

Roast 1 garlic head.

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onion. Saute until translucent. Add 4-5 roasted garlic cloves. Reserve remaining cloves for another use. Add squash, broken up into large chunks. Add water. Bring to a boil. Add bouillon cubes, lower to medium heat and stir until cubes dissolve. turn off heat. Puree soup (either in two batches in a blender or with an immersion blender).

To prepare meatballs:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine chicken, eggs, parsley and grill seasoning. Form meatballs, approximately 1 inch in diameter. Place on a baking sheet, and bake, in batches, for 30 minutes.

To serve, top a bowl of soup with meatballs.

Serves 4 - 6

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